Actually, it does seem to be about words.
To say there are no independent priests is false. There is no permission for independent priests. But there still are many. They have valid orders.
Every ordained priest has valid orders, even one who has been dismissed for committing crimes. Everyone of those priests in jail for sexual abuse of children has valid orders and will be a priest forever. They are not independent. They are suspended and dismissed from the clerical state, but remain priests. You can even go to confession to one of them, if you can’t find another priest.
So they obviously exist, I could even name some if I had to.
They don’t exist, because they don’t give themselves faculties. Independent presumes authority. A priest who is headless, is one without authority. A priest who is independent would be one who can decide for himself when and where he has faculties. There is no such provision in Canon Law.
The quibble is over the word “independent” which to some suggests legitimacy. It’s not legitimate.
So “renegade” describes the same thing but emphasizes that this is wrong.
The Church deliberately puts the emphasis on the wrong by using terms such as wandering, headless, suspended, renegade, because she wants to make sure that all of us clearly understand that this man has no legitimate right to roam around independently exercising ministry.
Some people want to hide the fact that he has no such right. They throw a lighter term over it, “independent priest.”
Does it say anything about independent chapels, or chapels which are owned privately? There are lists of these with Mass times at various sites; sometimes a “pastor” is listed; often is not.
Canon Law does speak about independent chapels. Male religious and cloistered nuns have the right to independent chapels, which are out of the control of the bishops. Only the superior of the house can grant faculties to celebrate sacraments there. The bishop cannot set foot in them without the permission of the superior. For example, the chapel at EWTN is an independent chapel under the jurisdiction of the Franciscans. The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament is an independent chapel under the jurisdiction of the Poor Clares. Opus Dei has independent chapels. Every Catholic college and school that is not diocesan has an independent chapel.
These chapels may not function as parishes unless they have the permission of the local bishop. For example,you can’t get married at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, even though it’s an independent chapel. It’s a private chapel. I know . . . it’s hard to conceive of such a large place as a chapel. But it is the monastery chapel. We have an independent chapel in our house. To have a Baptism, we need the permission of the local pastor, because we’re in his territory. It’s not hard to get, if you have a good relationship.
An independent chapel is one that belongs to an institute or an institution, but has the permission of the Ordinary to reserve the Blessed Sacrament. That is one thing that only the local bishop can grant, permission to have the Blessed Sacrament in your chapel. In a prelature, the Prelate coordinates these things with the local bishop before they happen.
I believe Brother JR’s point is that they are not independent. They have a superior, whether it is a bishop or a religious superior, to whom they are supposed to be answering, and they are not doing it. Independent implies that there is no one who has the authority to give them orders.
It is in some ways a semantic game, but it is an important one.
BINGO!
In Canon Law there is a great deal of semantics and nuances that go into it, not to mention tradition. The Church looks at this word, “independent” and asks, “What has this word meant in Catholic language?” It’s not concerned with what it means today to the rest of the world. That’s the tricky part about reading Canon Law. One has to know what these words mean in the Canonical tradition. There are actually dictionaries for Canon Law alone. They even define the word “is”. Bill Clinton should have had one of those.
I don’t believe I have ever posted about Church law.
-Tim-
Not you, the other Timothy. The one who wrote the epistle.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
